Notodontidae is a family of

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s with approximately 3,800 known species. The family was described by

James Francis Stephens James Francis Stephens (16 September 1792 – 22 December 1852) was an England, English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume ''Illustrations of British Entomology'' (1846) and the ''Manual of British Beetles'' (1839). ...

in 1829. Moths of this family are found in all parts of the world, but they are most concentrated in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

areas, especially in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

(Miller, 1992). Species of this family tend to be heavy-bodied and long-winged, the wings held folded across the back of the body at rest. They rarely display any bright colours, usually being mainly grey or brown, with the exception of the subfamily Dioptinae (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005). These features mean they rather resemble

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family (biology), family of moths. Taxonomically, they are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly ...

although the families are not closely related. The adults do not feed. Many species have a tuft of hair on the trailing edge of the forewing which protrudes upwards at rest. This gives them their scientific name "back tooth" and the common name of prominents. The common names of some other species reflect their hairiness, such as puss moth and the group commonly known as kittens ('' Furcula'' spp.), so named as they resemble small versions of the puss moth.

Life cycle

Egg

The egg is hemispherical or almost spherical, and lacks any ribs (Scoble, 1995).

Larvae

The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s are usually hairless, but may have tubercules, spines, or humps (Scoble 1995), and often rest with both ends raised. The last set of prolegs is frequently vestigial, or may be long, with glands that can be everted. Some larvae undergo shape modification and colour changes with each instar (Weller, 1992). Notodontid larvae are notable for their often bizarre shapes, and some have chemical defences (cyanic acid, formic acid, and other ketones: Blum, 1981) not commonly found in other Lepidoptera (Weller 1992). ''Schizura unicornis'' and ''S. badia'' have a mixture of formic acid, acetic acid and other compounds which they spray accurately at their attacker (Attygalle et al., 1993). The larvae of some species are truly extraordinary: That of the puss moth has a fearsome-looking "face" and two long whip-like "tails" (actually highly modified

proleg A proleg is a small, fleshy, stub structure found on the ventral surface of the abdomen of most larval forms of insects of the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, though they can also be found on larvae of insects such as symphyta, sawflies. In ...

s) and it rears both ends in a threatening display when disturbed. The larva of the

lobster moth The lobster moth (''Stauropus fagi''), also known as lobster prominent, is a moth from the family Notodontidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. The English name refers to the crustace ...

is even more remarkable, resembling a

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

. Others, such as ''Cerura vinula'' mimic the edge of a leaf that has been damaged and is turning brown (they rest and feed along the edge of the leaf). Most are solitary feeders, but some are gregarious, and this is most common in the processionary moths, Thaumetopoeinae. They feed on

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s and

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s, except in the subfamily Dioptinae, which feed on herbaceous plants (Miller, 1992). The larvae typically feed on only one family of trees, but closely related species will feed on distantly related plants; for example different members of the genus ''Datana'' feed on

Juglandaceae The Juglandaceae are a plant family known as the walnut family. They are trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia. The nine or ten genera in the family have ...

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

and

Anacardiaceae The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...

(Miller 1992).

Adults

Adults have

tympanal organ A tympanal organ (or tympanic organ) is a hearing organ in insects, consisting of a tympanal membrane ( tympanum) stretched across a frame backed by an air sac and associated sensory neurons. Sounds vibrate the membrane, and the vibrations are s ...

s on the metathorax that opens towards the top, and the tibial spurs have serrated edges (Scoble, 1995). Mouthparts vary from well-developed to absent. The Dioptinae, which was formerly considered a separate family, are colourful and fly by day, while the rest of the notodontids are nocturnal. Some of these Dioptinae have non-functional tympanal hearing organs which are normally defensive against bats (Fullard et al., 1997).

Importance

Some notodontids cause noticeable defoliation of their hosts. Well-known defoliators include: the saddled prominent ('' Heterocampa guttivita''), poplar defoliator ('' Clostera cupreata''), California oakworm ('' Phryganidia californica''), the beech caterpillar, ('' Quadricalcarifera punctatella''), variable oakleaf caterpillar ('' Lochmaeus manteo''), '' Epicerura pergisea'', yellownecked caterpillars ('' Datana ministra''), and walnut caterpillar ('' Datana integerrima''), among others.

Systematics

Formerly, the genus '' Oenosandra'' was placed in this family and the subfamily

Thaumetopoeinae Thaumetopoeinae is a subfamily of moths in the family Notodontidae. This group is sometimes treated as a family Thaumetopoeidae with three subfamilies: Thaumetopoeinae, Anaphinae and Epicominae. However, it is now commonly treated at subfamily r ...

was treated at independent family rank, however they have now been reclassified. Recent molecular research has stabilized and consolidated most of the constituent subfamily and tribal rank taxa.Hideki Kobayashi & Masaru Nonaka (2016) Molecular phylogeny of the Notodontidae: Subfamilies inferred from 28S rRNA sequences (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea, Notodontidae). Tinea 23, suppl. 1: 1-83

Notable species

Buff-tip The buff-tip (''Phalera bucephala'') is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is found throughout Europe and in Asia to eastern Siberia. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Descrip ...

(''Phalera bucephala'') * Puss moth (''Cerura vinula'') *

Lobster moth The lobster moth (''Stauropus fagi''), also known as lobster prominent, is a moth from the family Notodontidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. The English name refers to the crustace ...

(''Stauropus fagi'') * Poplar kitten (''Furcula bifida'') * Coxcomb prominent (''Ptilodon capucina'') * Rough prominent (''Nadata gibbosa'')

References

* Attygalle, AB, S. Smedley, J. Meinwald and T. Eisner. 1993. Defensive secretion of 2 notodontid caterpillars. J. Chem Ecol 19(10):2089-2104. * Blum, M.S. 1981. Chemical Defenses of Arthropods. Academic Press, New York. * Chinery, Michael. 1991. ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991) * Fullard, James, Jeff W. Dawson, L. Daniel Otero, Annemarie Surlykke. 1997. Bat-deafness in day-flying moths (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae, Dioptinae). Journal of Comparative Physiology A 181(5): 477-483 * Grimaldi, D, and MS Engel, 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. * Miller, James. 1992. Host-plant association among prominent moths. BioScience 42 (1): 50-56. * Scoble, MJ. 1995. The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity. Second ed. Oxford University Press. * Skinner, Bernard. 1984. ''Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' * Weller, SJ. 1992. Survey of Adult Morphology in Nystaleinae and Related Neotropical Subfamilies (Noctuoidea: Notodontidae). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 31(3-4):233-277.

External links

"Family Notodontidae"
at Insecta.pro

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{Authority control Moth families